HORSES IN TRAINING REVVING IT UP

BACKS SPRUNG AND READY FOR ACTION

We have these days occasionally at Summerhill, though with young horses, you can’t bring them along too often. Saturday was a good as day as you could wish for weather-wise in the KZN Midlands, as we gathered at the main track to watch the progress of the two year olds in training.

There’ve been a number of celebrities pass this way in the form of private sales off the farm, and in recent times they’ve included Friday evenings big Dubai performer, Imbongi, the champion filly Bold Ellinore, last weeks Fairview Mile winner, Vangelis, and the millionaire, Emperor Napoleon. So whenever we run these private trials, there’s no waiting for the alarm to get us out of bed; the adrenalin kicks in long before dawn, and there’s nothing like seeing a string of young racehorses on their way down to the track.

Those beautiful heads, the mist flowing from their nostrils, the craned neck, their backs sprung and ready for action, and that jaunty swagger, it’s like a gallery of the Old Masters.

So what’s the verdict? Well, there were a few already spoken for, including an octet of purchases from the Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale, headed for the stable of Champion trainer, Mike de Kock. Besides there were at least twenty others to choose from, and doubtless, there’ll be a few gems among them.

Making her debut in the racing string, was a member of the next generation. Seven year old Hannah Goss accompanied the string on her pony Blue. We’re laying the foundations now, so that the Summerhill story has legs.